Island Princess Hawaii in January 2006

[funforsun]

I am schedule to go RT from LA to Hawaii on Island Princess in January 2006. After reading most of the reviews for the Hawaii cruises, I can only find a few that describe some issues with the heavy seas. I also see that these are mostly resolved with the use of medication. Is this a good understanding of the Pacific seas going to/from Hawaii? One review discussed 60Ft swells. I am wondering how likely it is to encounter very or extreemly rough seas?

[DrivesLikeMario]

Since no one else with personal experience is answering your post, I'll give a stab at it. ;)

 

Like the Caribbean, it's "iffy"; you never know what you're going to get when it comes to the waves. That being said, January is a "hit or miss" kind of month. Usually, the waves are pretty smooth in January as it's not hurricane season, but if there's a Pacific storm, they can get pretty high. I think 60 ft. waves would be VERY unusual - definitely not the norm at all.

 

The Pacific was named so because it's supposed to be pacific (calm), but everyone I've ever heard from doing a West Coast to Hawaii run has said that their cruise wasn't pacific. It seems that the first 2-3 days are the roughest and then it calms down, but it's DEFINITELY not something to worry about or something you can't handle or the cruise lines wouldn't do this route.

 

Heck, we had 18 ft. seas and 55 mph winds in the Caribbean and survived. I don't think you'd have anything worse than that. Go, bring some Bonine and enjoy those wonderful sea days. :)

[Trey]

Having done the LA r/t Island Princess last December, we did have a bit heavy seas for the first and last 3 days. However, it was mild to the seas we had on the Star trans-Atlantic the last couple of weeks. We endured 4 days of 20 ft swells. The claim of 60ft seas must be exaggerated. We are booked again on the 1/21/06 Island Princess.

[meselibibob]

We sailed on the Sea Princess, Ensenada to Hawaii, three or four years ago. The first day out we experienced rough seas with 18-20 ft. swells with the ship rocking side-to-side. I had started to take Bonine the day before we left for the cruise and continued to take it every day. Had no problems at all. Every day the seas became a little calmer. I think this might be the norm for this part of the world. Just take the Bonine and forget about it!!!! You will have a fantastic time.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I remember seeing an explanation here about why it'll be rough the first couple of days. A trench it goes over? Just bring some bonine, ginger (that's what I'm bringing), wrist band, or whatever, and go for the adventure.

[funforsun]

Thanks everyone, you have been a great help. We decided to keep the reservation and take the adventure!